Our mission is to educate students and parents about cyberbullying and to work toward its eradication. To fulfill this mission, we offer three scholarships. Apply here.
Natalie Dvorak
2024 Scholarship Winner
Attending University of Northern Iowa
Natalie’s Essay
Growing up in a public school, it was no surprise that cyberbullying made its way around my life. I witnessed friends who broke down from online harassment and their well-being tarnished as a result. To date, I have attended three funerals for people my age who died by suicide. While cyberbullying was not the sole cause, it did impact their emotional well-being significantly. As a 20 year old woman, I should not have had to attend classmates' funerals. Their families should not have to suddenly advocate for mental health awareness because of such events.
It breaks my heart that our world has become such a cruel and unkind place. Ending cyberbullying is so important because people’s lives are at stake. I have seen the effects of what happens when cyberbullying is not resolved and have had enough. There are many reasons that people turn to cyberbullying but the one I have seen the most often is the anonymity of it. You could never know who said such hurtful things to you through a screen, but despite that, it still impacts your emotions. Bullies feel able to say destructive things when they know there are no repercussions.
There are countless ways to approach victims online that cyberbullies have mastered the art of bullying. Technology has evolved rapidly over the years. Bringing with it the constant need to feel connected online. As a result, cyberbullying works around the clock. This makes it difficult for victims to escape the negative messages and hurtful rumors as they happen anywhere and everywhere.
It seems that nowadays, it has become normal to see bullying everywhere. Every social media platform has evidence of that. Just today I saw a rude comment that made fun of someone on a TikTok video. But why is such a thing being normalized? Because there is not enough effort to end it. I know for me personally that I have learned to live with rude comments made online about myself. This is because people do not have consequences for their negative actions.
Working to end cyberbullying would drastically increase well-being and self-worth and diminish the prevalence of online bullies. In order to end cyberbullying, we must first be educated on it. This is why it is so important to work with resources like Delete Cyberbullying to promote awareness. I am passionate about working to end cyberbullying because the next generation deserves to grow up in a caring and loving environment where they do not have to question their worth both online and offline.
